Solid Investments

“SOLID INVESTMENTS”

By

District Elder M.L. Maughmer, Jr.

Matthew 6:19-21 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”.

OPENING: - Solid Investments is something that most people consider at some point in their life. No doubt many of us have at some point in the past have taken money and invested it in some stock or mutual fund in order for it to grow and be available for us to use in the future. For example on my job I have what is called a Thrift Savings Plan or TSP for short, it’s similar to a 401K. What I do with this TSP is every payday a certain amount of my check is applied to this TSP. What I have done and am able to do is to decide where I want to put this money or any portion of this money on certain investment options. Some of the money I have going into options that are high risk, they are unstable options that don’t always yield a return, more often then not they loose value, but when it does yield a return the return on them is wonderful. On other options I have they are not high risk and the return is not all that great, but the return on them is more likely to happen then not, these are called solid investments.

Now we understand that there are evidently, some risk involved when we invest money. We could easily loose part or even all of our investment leaving us financially worse off than we were when we initially made the investment. Investments are similar to the lottery in the fact that when a person invests money into the stock market they are actually taking a chance that they will get something in return.

Investments are made for many different reasons ranging from getting ready for retirement, college for the kids, the fear of not having anything in our later years in life to the ultimate reason like the “Brothers Johnson” song said I want to be rich, I want the pie in the sky.

For the most part people try to invest wisely. Some people do extensive research on where to invest their money and try to do it themselves with self-investing companies like e-trade, Scottrade and many other self investing programs. Others seek people that have experience in investing and ask for their advice. While some go to a person that has been trained in financial investments, known as a financial planner or stockbroker.

Regardless if you do it yourself or have a professional investment broker help you understand that the key to investments is to try to minimize your losses and maximize your gains. Sometimes people are successful in doing this other times they say as Will Rogers once said, “I’m more interested in getting a return of my money than a return on my money”. Investing can be a very tricky and is a very unstable thing.

Before we get too far into this message let me make sure, you have an understanding of investments. The root word of investments is invest. Invest means to commit (money) in order to earn a financial return, to make use of for future benefits or advantages. The word solid means being without an internal cavity or flaw, having no break or interruption, uniformly close and coherent texture. Therefore, “Solid Investments” is to make use of something strong, without flaw in order to produce future benefits or advantages that are strong and firm. I am talking about “Solid Investments”.

TEXT: - According to Forbes.com, there are some 470 billionaires in the world. It is said that 276 of these billionaires live in the United States of America. Also more than 2500 households have a net worth that exceeds 100 million dollars. There are more than 250,000 individuals with a net worth of more than 10 million dollars and yet still another 500,000 (a ½ a million) people that have a net worth in excess of 5 million dollars. Reportedly, it is said that Americans own approximately 40% of the world’s wealth yet make up only 2.5% of the world’s population. Some 40% of the wealth in America is only held by 1% of the people. Regrettably, 80% of American families are finding themselves in financial adversities.

America the country that was at one time the wealthiest, most industrious and most prosperous country in the world has now been reduced to third world status. Our economy is in turmoil. As a nation, we have a 10.6 trillion dollar deficit and that is ever growing bigger and bigger by the day. Over a billion dollars a month is being spent fighting a war and trying to rebuild a country we have no business being in the first place. We have people that go to work every day in decent jobs that yet still are not able to afford health insurance. Many people must struggle with making a choice rather to eat or get their medications. Houses are being foreclosed upon at an alarming rate on both sinners and church folk. Oil prices are once again on the rise seems like every time the wind blows the price of oil goes higher and higher because people-INVESTORS- fear that a hurricane will cause damage to (their investments) the oilrigs in the Gulf Coast. I’m so glad God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind 2 Timothy 1:7.